Lucia's 6!!!

This post is about a week late, but still worth posting: We had the joy of celebrating Lucia's 6th birthday with her last week!!  She has a big year behind her, filled with fun firsts like losing 3 teeth, skiing, finishing her first year of school, and learning to ride a bike without training wheels!
She has grown into a delightful girl, fun to get to know and be around.  She continues to be very independent, responsible and mature -- sometimes I forget that she is only 6!  Her first and foremost passion continues to be books.  We still make our weekly trip to the library and come home with a new host of books, and Lucia devours them all!
She continues to amaze us with the questions she asks, and the connections and inferences she makes during conversations, family Bible time, when reading or watching TV, etc.
According to Lucia, among many wonderful birthday gifts her favorite was an Animal Encyclopedia (and no, this is not a children's book... this is a standard "adult" reference book with amazing photography).
But more important than her head knowledge and insatiable thirst for information and random data (augmented by a burning desire not to make a single mistake when taking tests or quizzes), is her sweet and tender heart.  Lucia has always been fairly responsive to instruction and correction, and she feels very responsible (sometimes to a fault) for her younger sisters.  She frequently tries to settle their disputes, appease both parties, shares well and oftentimes thinks of them before herself.
We love you dearly, sweet girl, and thank the Lord for blessing our family with you as our oldest daughter and big sister.  We can't wait to see what this new year has in store for you, and we are looking forward to watching you grow in so many ways!

Mama and Papa

 To the baby girl who made me a Mama. :-)